The present invention relates to an electronic paper, a copy controlling program and a copy controlling method, and specifically relates to an electronic paper that displays an image onto an image display section having an image retaining property, a copy controlling program to be executed in the electronic paper concerned and a copy controlling method for controlling an operation for copying the image currently displayed on the electronic paper concerned.
In recent years, various kinds of displaying apparatuses, such as an electronic paper, etc., have been increasingly proliferated in the market. For instance, instead of outputting printed paper sheets serving as conference materials or the like, an Electrophoretic Display, which serves as an electronic paper abovementioned, has been employed for displaying the images of the conference materials or the like, thereon, so as to promote the reduction of the resource consumption. In the Electrophoretic Display abovementioned, by applying a voltage to charged particles dispersed in a transparent liquid agent or charged particles encapsulated into microcapsules and by making them migrate electrophoretically, the displayed image can be retained without any power source (without applying a voltage, or without making an electric current flow therethrough).
With respect to the technology in regard to the electronic paper abovementioned, for instance, Tokkai 2006-039107 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication) sets forth such a portable-type display storage medium that is provided with: a display section to display and retain a document image thereon in a state of no power source; a status detecting section to detect various kinds of current statuses of the display storage medium concerned, including a status in which the concerned display storage medium is directed to a front side or a rear side, another status in which the concerned display storage medium is covered, still another status in which the concerned display storage medium is made to stand up, and yet another status of whether or not the user resides within a predetermined distance from the display storage medium concerned; a determining section to determine whether or not the current status, detected by the status detecting section, is in conformity with a predetermined status established in advance; and an erasing section to erase the document image currently displayed and retained on the display section, when the determining section determines that the current status is in conformity with the predetermined status established in advance.
Further, with respect to the other technology in regard to the electronic paper abovementioned, for instance, Tokkai 2005-266226 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication) sets forth such a flexible and thin-type electronic paper that is provided with: a display section to display and retain an information image thereon in a state of no power source; a status detecting section to detect various kinds of status changes of the electronic paper concerned, including a rotational displacement of the concerned electronic paper, a relocation of the concerned electronic paper to a predetermined place and an overlapping status of plural electronic papers; and a control section to apply a predetermined processing such as a processing for switching an information image to be displayed and retained onto the display section from one to another, another processing for erasing electronic data, representing the information image to be displayed and retained onto the display section, from a storage section, in response to the detected result above-mentioned.
Since a conventional display apparatus, such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), etc., displays an image on its screen in such a manner that an image display section itself emits light to form the image on the screen, it is impossible for a copier to accurately copy or scan the image displayed on the screen of the display apparatus concerned. On the other hand, since another image display section provided in the electronic paper (such as the Electrophoretic Display or the like), serving as a particle-migration type display apparatus, does not emit light to form an image on its screen, it becomes possible for the copier to accurately copy or scan the image displayed on the screen of the electronic paper concerned. Accordingly, there has arisen such a fear that image information currently displayed and retained on the image display section of the electronic paper would be leaked by conducting an operation for copying or scanning the image concerned.
In addition to the above, when an image is formed by copying an image currently displayed on the image display section of the electronic paper, it is impossible for a third party to discriminate whether or not the concerned image is created by copying the image originally displayed on the electronic paper such as the Electrophoretic Display or the like. Owing to such the drawback as abovementioned, when managing copy information, it has been necessary for the user to manage the copy information in such a mode that the user can discriminate the copy information representing the copied image from other information, resulting in an increase of the user's burden.
Conventionally, when the operation for copying or scanning the image currently displayed on the image display section of the electronic paper is freely allowed, the abovementioned problem has arisen. To solve such the problem as abovementioned, the image display section has been controlled to erase the image currently displayed thereon, every time when the electronic paper enters into a specific status. However, since, sometimes, it has been necessary to allow the user to conduct the operation for copying or scanning the image currently displayed on the image display section of the electronic paper, (for instance, at the time when the appropriate or authorized user intends to use the copied image, etc.), there has also arisen such the problem that the conventional countermeasure, in which the images are erased without exception, has impaired the usability of the electronic paper concerned.